Assistant Cafe Leader

Two wrongfully terminated workers get $40,000 after city intervenes. Blue Bottle and Red Rooster forced to pay up. Adrian Tapia worked at Red Rooster Harlem, a soul food restaurant, for 15 years before the business wrongfully fired him in November 2025. Courtesy Adrian Tapia Posted Tuesday, September 15, 2026 11:13 am BY MAX WHITE for The Chief Ian O'Hara worked part-time as a barista at Blue Bottle Coffee for almost a year and a half before the company wrongfully terminated him in January, leaving O'Hara "immensely blindsided." It was just after the holiday season when he was fired, and his apartment's lease was ending in February. Working paycheck to paycheck, he had no cushion at all, calling it a "shocking beginning to the new year." In the lead-up to his termination, managers wrote up O'Hara for infractions that he'd never been in trouble for before, saying it felt like a "bizarro world." But O'Hara was in consistent contact with the city's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection prior to his firing, having learned about the agency when reading up on workers' rights in New York City. Blue Bottle eventually fired O'Hara for time and attendance issues, which he said he'd never been written up for until his termination. He contacted his investigator with DCWP the same day of his termination and O'Hara, the agency and Blue Bottle spent the next six months going back and forth on how Ian could get his job back. But the company didn't budge. When it became clear Blue Bottle wouldn't rehire O'Hara after months of negotiations, the company settled, paying O'Hara four and a half to five months of wages. His first move after the money got to his bank account was to donate 10 percent of his settlement to a union representing Blue Bottle workers in Boston and the Bay Area. DCWP's crucial intervention. O'Hara is one of two wrongfully terminated workers at different businesses who, in total, received $40,000 in compensation this summer following DCWP's intervention for lost pay and the destabilization of a sudden firing. In O'Hara's case, DCWP found that Blue Bottle terminated O'Hara in violation of the city's Fair Workweek Law for fast food workers. The cafe terminated him without "just cause or a bona fide economic reason," according to the agency, and unreasonably and inconsistently disciplined O'Hara. "No one should lose their job for asserting their right to a fair workplace or taking a sick day they're legally owed," a DCWP spokesperson told The Chief in an email. "New Yorkers who believe their rights have been violated should know that DCWP stands ready to investigate and enforce the law to vindicate their rights." O'Hara now works at a different, unionized cafe. His Blue Bottle location wasn't unionized. "I would still like to be working at Blue Bottle," O'Hara told The Chief. "I was wanting my job back because I wanted to return to work with the baristas that I did like working with." Blue Bottle Coffee told The Chief in an email that it followed its established progressive discipline process before firing O'Hara and disputed the subsequent complaint but "ultimately agreed to resolve the matter rather than continue through the administrative process." The company did not answer specific questions about whether it disciplined the managers who wrongfully terminated O'Hara and if it changed its policies to avoid future settlements, saying it does not "comment further on confidential personnel matters involving current or former team members." Red Rooster's refusal. Adrian Tapia worked at Red Rooster Harlem, a soul food restaurant, for 15 years before the business wrongfully fired him in November 2025. In the lead-up to the firing, Tapia wanted to use his sick leave to care for his wife, Elizabeth, who had recently undergone surgery, but Red Rooster refused, he said. Tapia told The Chief in Spanish that he was used to working long hours at the restaurant, but he couldn't work as long after he contracted skin cancer. His manager started treating him more harshly and he felt pressured to work longer. This culminated in the restaurant firing him rather than letting him use his sick leave to care for his wife. "I felt scared and many emotions because I had already been working there for 15 years," said Tapia, a father of three. But he contacted the DCWP, thanks to his wife's familiarity with the agency, and it secured a wrongful termination settlement for lost wages and worker relief. The agency found that his termination violated the city's Protected Time Off law in refusing his request for sick leave. Red Rooster did not respond to a request for comment from The Chief about Tapia's firing. For O'Hara, DCWP's intervention made an immense difference. "I'll be able to pay rent and afford groceries finally," he said. Other items that may interest you

Violent crime drops, public Transit upgrades, plus more NJ news you missed. Labor Day has come and gone, and while The Local Girl is not sure whether it's summer or fall, The Local Girl do have some interesting headlines for you from throughout the Garden State. From new O'Bagel and Saigon Bistro locations to Hoboken's first restaurant week and a nude cyclist evading police in Readington, here's a roundup of the New Jersey news you might have missed this week. PS: Every week, The Local Girl round up the top news stories of the week from both its site and aggregate across the web from various sources because there's SO much happening. You can read more at the links below, and always feel free to submit any news tips to [email protected] or via DM @thenewjerseygirl_ on IG. Its email newsletter also shares more of its top stories on a twice-weekly basis, which you can sign up for here. - Communities throughout New Jersey are holding ceremonies, vigils, memorial services, blood drives, and other events to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks (The New Jersey Girl). - The Local Girl team created an unofficial New Jersey holiday calendar celebrating some of the Garden State's most distinctly Jersey foods, traditions, places, and cultural moments throughout the year (The Hoboken Girl). - Paper Mill Playhouse received a $150,000 Disney grant to bring free musical theater residencies to four eligible Essex County public elementary schools (The Montclair Girl). - New Jersey will receive at least $525 million and potentially more than $752 million from a multistate settlement with Meta (The New Jersey Girl). - Hoboken has adopted a new waterfront sound ordinance requiring permits for outdoor amplified sound in the I-1W district north of 14th Street (The Hoboken Girl). - The Hoboken Business Alliance is launching the city's first-ever Hoboken Restaurant Week from November 9th through November 22nd (The Hoboken Girl). - Montclair State University opened a nearly 2,500-square-foot virtual reality facility that will bring immersive technology into student coursework (The Montclair Girl). - Stan's Sports Center, a longtime Hoboken sporting goods store that first opened in 1946, is closing its Washington Street storefront after 80 years in business (The Hoboken Girl). - Blue Bottle Coffee opened its first New Jersey location at Garden State Plaza in Paramus on September 9th (The Bergen County Girl). - Police in Readington Township are asking the public to help identify a man who has reportedly been spotted riding an e-bike nude along local trails for years (New York Post). - More than 1,100 people have signed a petition opposing a proposed warehouse development in a residential Essex County neighborhood (NJ.com). - Violent crime in New Jersey dropped nearly 12% in 2025 and is about 70% below its 1990 peak, while Montclair recorded 32 violent crimes and saw its local violent crime rate fall more than 40% year over year (Montclair Patch). - Westfield Public Schools is investigating a districtwide network outage that was potentially caused by a ransomware attack, disrupting the first day of school (Union County Life). - A New Jersey gun range owner helped restrain an unruly American Airlines passenger accused of attacking fellow passengers on a Dallas-to-Newark flight (New York Post). - O'Bagel is opening its Parsippany location on September 12th at 9:30AM, and the first 100 customers get free food and prizes (Instagram). - The New Jersey Turnpike Authority is proposing a nearly six-mile Garden State Parkway expansion in Ocean County (Jersey Shore Online). - NJ Students are headed back to school without their phones, as a new New Jersey law requiring public school districts to restrict students' cellphone and other personal-device use throughout the school day took effect this school year (The Philadelphia Inquirer). - NJ Transit has upgraded real-time bus tracking technology and introduced free onboard Wi-Fi on more than 1,500 buses, with the improvements expected to reach nearly 2,000 buses by the end of 2026 (NJ TRANSIT). - Clementon Park + Splash World has permanently closed after the South Jersey amusement and water park announced that September 9th would be its final day of operation (Disney Fanatic). - Passaic's annual Mexican Independence Day Parade has been postponed indefinitely, with organizers citing concerns about recent ICE arrests and fears over the safety of community members attending the event (CBS News New York). - Rutgers men's basketball head coach Steve Pikiell announced that he is undergoing cancer treatment following successful surgery and plans to remain involved with the team as much as possible during the season (Rutgers Athletics). Have a news tip or story? Email The Local Girl at [email protected].